“Tell me, sívamet.”
“I want to kiss you, Andor. I think about it a lot. But, I know when I do, I will want you to bring me into your world because I would want more than one lifetime with you.”
His heart jumped in his chest, began to beat faster. He wanted that, too. A thousand lifetimes wouldn’t be enough for him. “Is this a bad thing?”
“I thought if I talked to the other women, the lifemates who had chosen to become Carpathian, they could tell me if they felt they’d made the right choice. It isn’t like I can go back to being human, right?”
“No, once you make that decision, it is done. Your human body dies and you become fully Carpathian. I know the other women will say they made the right choice. They love their lifemates. You know they will say it as well.”
“It isn’t about that, Andor. I know I’ve fallen quite hard for you. It’s difficult to see into your mind and not fall for you. I also see the repercussions of the sun on you. I love the sun. I lie out in the sun without my clothes and sunbathe. I swim without clothes, letting the sun kiss me through the water. I love the way it looks on the plants during the day. Some flowers don’t even open at night. I spent time in my garden, planting and weeding and waiting for spring so the flowers would come up and open. The blossoms are spectacular in the daylight. All those colors.”
“You will still see in color.”
“But they don’t shine like that at night.”
He pulled her all the way into his arms. “You are just scared, and I do not blame you. I am going to kiss you anyway. You know you have made up your mind. I see it. I see your resolution.”
“Then you see that I have a tiny part of me still holding back. This has to be a one hundred percent, all-in decision.”
He caught her chin in his palm and lifted her face. Those green eyes haunted him. So beautiful. He hadn’t known he loved the color green so much. His thumb slid gently over her cheek because he needed to feel the softness of her skin. He ached to taste her lips, the color of a wild rose, not quite a red, not quite a pink, but inviting. Tempting.
“I am one hundred percent all-in, Lorraine. I belong with you. To you. All of me. Whether I live as a Carpathian or a human, I choose to live beside you.” He meant every word. He knew others of his brethren would bind their women to them and take this choice for them. Lorraine was not a woman to accept that. Ever. She needed to go through her process, even if that meant he had to wait. He had waited centuries. He had bound them together with the ritual words and after learning why, for him, it had been necessary, she had accepted it.
She had accepted the fact that he was upset with her for becoming bait for vampires, to lure them in so the ancients could destroy them. Once he had explained, she had understood the reasons for his objections. She had even conceded she might have made other choices if she’d had all the information.
It had been Lorraine who had insisted on the first full blood exchange, stepping one foot into his world. She was coming to him slowly. Making those decisions and feeling in control. She had to know that her opinion mattered to him and that any conclusion she came to would be honored by him. That was what lifemate meant. Other women would be different because they held other men’s souls for them.
Ferro, he knew, could never live with a woman like Lorraine. It was clear he respected her, but she would never be his lifemate. Sandu was more like Ferro than Andor, which was always odd to Andor. They had shared the monastery for centuries and had come to know each other very well. In another life, Sandu would have a sense of humor far more than any of the others, but he would be stricter with his woman—his protective streak dictating what was acceptable to him and what wasn’t. Isai was always an enigma to them all. He was much more difficult to read. Dragomir was somewhere in between Sandu and Andor. That left the two brethren helping to guard Tariq. Benedek and Petru. He shook his head. Modern women would have a difficult time with any of them, Andor included.
“Csecsemõ, I need to kiss you.” They both knew he was going to kiss her.
Her lashes fluttered, drawing his attention. The breeze was cool on the heat of his skin. Somewhere close, a mouse scurried in the leaves, and the flutter of wings told him an owl was close. He heard a fox bark a distance away. Overhead, stars broke through the faint light as darkness settled a midnight-blue color over the sky. He would never forget anything about this night, not even the smallest detail.
He bent his head and brushed his mouth with exquisite gentleness over hers. His cock jerked hard and unexpectedly. His heart clenched in his chest and then accelerated, beating hard. Hot blood rushed through his veins, pooling low. His lips kissed hers, one corner, then the other. His teeth found her bottom lip and nipped, using the same gentleness.
Her lips were soft. Firm. Cool. Heating fast. When his teeth nipped and tugged, she gasped and opened her mouth. His tongue slid in, tasting her. It was there for him, just like in her blood, that miraculous flavor that was all Lorraine. He wanted to define it, but couldn’t take the time; he was swept away, exploring, claiming, leading so she would follow.
She answered him tentatively, her tongue chasing his into his mouth, sliding along it, tangling and teasing, exploring just as he had done. He touched her mind, wanting to feel what she was feeling. That taste of his, so perfect for her. She liked kissing him.
I love kissing you, she corrected.
He pulled her closer, his arms locked tightly around her. His mouth taking command again, kissing her over and over. His hands slid up her back and then framed either side of her face, holding her there, while he savored every touch of her fingers, the taste and texture of her, and that wondrous taste that would forever be only his.
I didn’t know it would be like this.
He hadn’t known, either, otherwise, as wounded as he was, he would have been kissing her earlier. I will never have enough of this. Kissing you is amazing.
Apparently, it is also distracting. Sandu’s voice could be heard by both. We have to go. And we need your votes on what to do with these slaves of the undead. So, stop doing what you are doing and come back here.
Andor didn’t pull away immediately. His woman deserved more than that. He cooled the kiss from burning to hot and then brushed a dozen kisses over her mouth and down her chin to her throat.
Shouldn’t we go? There was a hint of amusement in her mind.
Sandu is an ass. Because she had a sense of humor about their kisses being interrupted, he found his, too. But I suppose we should go help them figure it out. We might be the only ones with brains.
Clearly yours has short-circuited, Sandu persisted. You might wait to kiss your woman in the safety of the compound, not out here where the crows gather.
10
Andor was intimidating up close and he could kiss like an angel—or devil. The man was temptation itself. She was used to men who seemed powerful and maybe even a little dangerous. She lived in the world of martial arts. The men were physically fit, often in jobs that put their lives in jeopardy, and could definitely protect themselves and their loved ones. Andor was in an entirely different category—a scary one.
As long as he’d been lying prone, his chest and belly torn open, she hadn’t really been nervous. She’d been the one taking care of him. Now, even though she knew those injuries were not fully healed, she could see his raw power and the danger that clung to him with every move he made. She’d seen that in the others, but not him, not really.
He was all muscle. Authority. A clear threat. She knew he was a predator. She’d seen it when she’d first met him, but now it was stamped into every line of his body. She’d tied herself to that—to someone capable of things she had no real idea of. Watching battles unfold like a movie in his mind was far different than experiencing the real thing.
On top of everything else, he was seriously hot. Not just gorgeous. Not just good-looking, he was so hot she could barely look at him. He had a quality she couldn’t put her finger on, but it was powerful
and drew her like a magnet. To her, he was spellbinding, mesmerizing. With Andor around, she would never see any other man.
He kissed like a creature from another world. She’d been kissed—or thought she had until that moment. No one compared to him. To his taste. To the way he held her. The way his mouth was so commanding. He wasn’t even one hundred percent healed and he already had stolen her body with just his kisses. She couldn’t imagine kissing another man after him and being satisfied.
He tugged on her hand until she fit beneath his shoulder. She put one arm around his waist and the other hand—the one he’d been holding—very lightly on his waist. She was afraid of pressing against one of his injuries.
“Is Gary going to work on you this evening?” She knew the healer hadn’t had a chance. The moment Andor had risen, he’d come to her.
“No. He will do so when we reach the compound.”
That made her uneasy. Andor was on his feet, but his wounds should have killed him. They’d fought to bring him back from that place between the living and the dead, and he wasn’t healed. Traveling would be difficult, especially if a fight ensued.
“Maybe he should try now.”
“He would be too weak to travel,” Andor said. “We would not attempt this if I was not ready, sívamet.”
They reached the others waiting by Adam and Herman. The two men looked more confused than ever the moment they saw her.
Adam blinked rapidly as she approached him with an outstretched hand. “That water bottle was my brother’s and I would like it back.”
Andor caught her wrist and pulled her arm down as if the two men might be cobras and about to strike her. He held out his hand while turning his body protectively to shield her from the two human males.
“I’m sorry,” Adam said. “I don’t remember very much of how I got here or why I have this. I didn’t steal it.” He handed the bottle over to Andor immediately.
“You came here to either kill or hand my woman over to a vampire,” Andor explained.
His tone was hard, and Lorraine couldn’t help but look up at him. She’d never heard him use that particular voice. He didn’t sound in the least sympathetic. I feel sorry for them, Andor. They clearly don’t have a clue to what’s going on.
Really? Andor caught her chin and looked into her eyes. Her breath caught in her throat. She could get lost in those eyes, the color of midnight, a velvet violet mixed with a dark, dark blue. They have memories. Do not be fooled because they are human.
She didn’t want to look into their memories. She’d taught herself at a young age that it was wrong to intrude on other people’s privacy. Everyone had secrets, even if they were secret thoughts, and no one wanted others to know what they were. She shook her head.
They chose to work for Sergey. They are psychic males he found through the Morrison Center. He contacted them and offered them immortality in exchange for their services—meaning whatever he asked them to do. He asked them to get you to bring them inside the safeguards so they could invite the puppet inside. Of course, they did not realize the payment would be the puppet—their friend—eating them alive. Sergey will not bring human psychics into his world unless he intends to make them members of his army. These two would never have made that cut.
Why do you say that? He sounded so matter-of-fact when he was talking about two men losing their lives in a horrendous way. She’d loved that he was so calm and pragmatic, but now, with the lives of Adam and Herman on the line, she wanted him to be emotional—like she knew she was being.
They did not like their assignment and questioned it, both of them. Once they saw their friend as a puppet, they were horrified. Neither wanted to continue, but of course, they had no choice in the matter. They had been programmed.
See? She jumped on that. They have good in them. They can be saved.
They can never be trusted. They wanted immortality enough to agree to deliver a woman into the hands of a vampire. They knew at the time of the agreement exactly what they were doing in exchange. Sergey likes to make certain his people are aware of what he is.
Lorraine pressed her fingers to her eyes. She was trying to make Adam and Herman into decent people. She needed them to be decent. They changed their minds. Sometimes something sounds as if it could be good, but then when you’re actually in the moment you realize it’s all wrong. People aren’t perfect, Andor.
He leaned down to brush a kiss across her lips. Her heart fluttered alarmingly. She blinked up at him, and he shook his head. I am not passing judgment on humans for weaknesses, Lorraine. I am very cognizant of the fact that you are holding your brother close to your heart and it hurts that so many think of him as a monster. I do not. I do not think these men are monsters. The fact remains, they were here to harm my woman. They will not get close enough to you to do so again.
She was all right with that. She nodded to show she was in complete agreement. “What will happen to them?” She whispered it aloud, afraid the way the intimacy of his voice brushing strokes of velvet along the walls of her mind persuaded her that Andor was right in all things.
“We will take them to the compound and Tariq will decide. He has a couple of other human psychics who worked for Vadim now working for him. They are invaluable in that they recognize other men who have aligned themselves with Sergey. They also have a wealth of memories to tap into.” He glanced up at the surrounding trees, and Lorraine followed his gaze. Several crows watched with beady round eyes. “Why are we delaying?”
“Isai is not back as of yet,” Ferro said. “I reached out to him, but he has not answered. I fear he has run into problems.”
Lorraine caught Adam’s head movement as he turned toward Herman. She narrowed her gaze on them and stepped closer, in spite of Andor’s restraining hands. “What do you know about Isai’s disappearance?”
Herman started to shake his head, and she glared at him. “If you lie, they all will know you do. Your master planned for you both to die hideous deaths. You failed in your mission and now he’s going to be looking to hurt you both before you die. He’s like that. So spill it. Where is Isai?”
Adam shrugged his shoulders. “If he went hunting to the east, a trap was set up to kill one of these men. A campground with a family of five.”
Her heart caught in her throat. Instinctively she reached out to catch at Andor’s arm to steady herself. “You mean children? You knew Sergey was going to use children to bait a trap for a hunter?”
Again, Adam shrugged, and she wanted to hit him. She took another step toward him and Andor circled her waist with his arm, locking her against him. “You wanted it that much? You would exchange the lives of children for your ticket to immortality?”
“For power,” Andor corrected. “For having the power of life and death over others. You chose death for those children and our brother. The thing you might remember, both of you, is that hunters do not die so easily.” He turned to the others. “Reach for Isai collectively. All the brethren have exchanged blood with him. We do not need his voice to find him.”
“Why would he choose not to send for you or answer you?” Lorraine asked.
“He knows that is expected and they have readied the playing field. They have the advantage when they have set the battleground.”
“Then we need to change it up and do the unexpected.” That was a direct quote from her father. When an opponent had had the advantage, and known what one of them was going to do, known how they preferred to fight, her father had always told them to “change it up and do the unexpected.” This situation called for just that.
You are thinking of using yourself as bait again. Andor made it an accusation.
Ferro moved out into the wider meadow, just to one side of where Andor had been so wounded. She couldn’t help but stare at him, knowing he was going to do something huge. Something wonderful. Something terrible. She held her breath.
He shifted. One moment, there was a tall man with long flowing hair down to his waist and the next
a giant rust-colored dragon. The dragon was magnificent, very beautiful, its scales gleaming in the moonlight. He stretched his neck long and lowered a wing. Beside her, Andor sighed while the two human males gaped.
Show-off. Andor whispered it under his breath and into his mind.
He tugged at Lorraine’s hand. She was fairly certain she was gaping right along with Adam and Herman. Still, she went with Andor right up to the enormous dragon. Even having seen Ferro shift and knowing it was him, she was apprehensive and more than a little awed. She tentatively touched the scales. They were cool to the touch, hard, but silky smooth, even over the raised bumps she felt within each scale.
The dragon’s color was unique, like hematite iron ore, red with grayish overtones—or the opposite, like now, when they were more red than gray. Ferro’s eyes were the same color. Like flames burning deep under the surface. The dragon’s body looked very much as if a fire burned beneath the scales, the orange and red flames showing through.
Andor climbed onto the extended wing and reached a hand back to help her up. She took a breath and then let him clasp her wrist and pull as she stepped up. Does it hurt to have us walk on you, Ferro?
That is an absurd question.
She laughed. In spite of the tension, her anxiety over the two human men and what was going to happen to them, and the fact that Ferro had just become a dragon, which made her feel a little faint, he was still Ferro.
Andor settled her in front of him on the neck of the mythical creature. She glanced back at her pack and the two men. “I don’t want to lose my parents’ or my brother’s things.” That was a very real fear.
“They will be transported to the compound,” he assured.
Ferro began to flap the giant wings, hopping for a moment on his back legs, and then he was in the sky with a surge of power she felt rumbling beneath her. Once in the cool night air, they began to climb. She clutched the dragon’s neck and pressed back into Andor, her heart accelerating rapidly. It was crazy. Amazing. Impossible. It was a dream come true and a nightmare of insanity. More and more, she was being drawn into the complexity and fantasy of a world she’d never conceived of.
Dark Sentinel ('Dark' Carpathian Book 32) Page 18